117 To Lose Jobs When Donnelley Printing Plant Closes

RR Donnelley & Sons, a $10.6 billion global printing company, is closing its Windsor location in March, putting 117 people out of work.

The company is required by law to let the state Department of Labor know about its plans two months ahead of the layoffs, and it did so on Monday.

In a press release that same day, the CEO told investors that 2011's cash flow would be better than previously projected — instead of having $600 million in profits (not counting capital expenditures, taxes and debt service), it will have $650 million to $700 million.

In its third-quarter earnings report, the company said profits tripled from the same time last year, and sales increased 8 percent.

"We continue to have success in the marketplace, winning new work and expanding customer relationships. Given the challenging global economic environment and sluggish financial markets activity, we are pleased with our results," said Thomas J. Quinlan III, RR Donnelley's president and chief executive officer. According to Forbes Magazine, he was paid $2.64 million in 2010, and owns $6 million in stock in the company.

In Windsor, 69 production employees, 12 managers and 36 administrative employees, from accountants to database coordinators to operations clerks, will lose their jobs when the printing plant closes.

Jim Burke, economic development director for the town of Windsor, said the building once housed Aetna's in-house printing division. The insurance company sold the printing division to Donnelley in 1996. At that time, there were 400 employees at the printing plant.

"That whole facility that used to be an Aetna facility has nobody from Aetna in it," Burke said. "But it has Bank of America and Sun Life and Alstom. That's kind of the dynamic that we've got here."

Still, Burke said 117 jobs is a substantial employer. "The loss of jobs is always tough," he said. "We haven't had any conversation relative to what they're doing for those employees." He wondered if the employees were offered an opportunity to relocate.

RR Donnelley & Sons was once Old Saybrook's largest employer, opening a printing plant in 1960 and shuttering it in 2002, putting 500 people out of work, some of whom had worked for the printing giant for decades.

No one from the Chicago-based company responded to a call for comment.